Glass-making furnace.



No. 698,932 Patented A r; 29, I902.

E. GOB'B E. GLASS MAKING FURNACE.

(Applica tion filed Aug. 6,- 1901.)

2 Sheets-$heet l.

A, z z:

liar/W1 Errzak 05639 (-No Model.)

No. 698,932. 4 Patented Apr. 29, 1902. E..GOBBE. GLASS MAKING FURNACE.

(Application filed Aug. 6, 1901.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.:

THE nonms PEYERS ca. vnovaumu, WASHINGTON D4 c UNITED STATES PATENT@rFICE.

EMILE GOBBE, OF. JUMET, BELGIUM.

e LASS-MAKING FU RNAC E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 698,932, dated April29, 1 902.

Application filed August 6, 19 01. serial in. 71,085 on; model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMILE GoBBE, engineer, glass-manufacturer, a citizenof the Kingdom of Belgium, residing at Jumet, Belgium, andhavingpost-office address 26 Rue Leopold, in

said city, have invented certain new and usefnl Improvements in Furnaceswith Revolving Soles, Especially. Applicable to Glass- Making, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention has for its object a furnace with revolving solewhich isespecially applicable to glass-making, and more especially in themanufacture of mirror or plate glass, its construction being based onthefollowing considerations:

The casting of plate-glass is generally carried out in an intermittentmanner or in potfurnaces, from which the material is'cast once everytwenty-four hours. In order that glass may have an almost pastyconsistency toward 900 centigrade; yet the melting of the materials, andespecially the refining, requires a much higher temperatureabout 1,800centigrade. I

Under these circumstances the furnace must be left to cool for some fouror five hours after the refining has taken place. Casting,

charging, and firing again the furnace require I three to four hours, sothat the furnace remains idle eight hours per day, or one-third of thetime. The other disadvantages inherent to this system are the lossesofheat and of gases from the gas-producers, whichresult from theunavoidable stoppage and cooling of the furnace, as well as the lossesvof 'heatand danger of destruction arising from the daily cooling andfiring of the furnace.

In order to avoid the intermittent working lated, with such a speed thatthey remain in in which be cast,'it should each zone the time requiredfor the successful issue of the casting operations.

- In order-that my invention may be clearly understood,I will proceed todescribe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings,

stance, with eight working holes a a to of and a domed roof b. The gasis supplied to the furnaces through hollow pillars 61, providedchiefiy'on one side of .the'furnace, and the recuperation is effected bythe usual means, as shown on Fig. 3.

The arrangement for heating the furnace and recuperating the heat areparticularly shown on Fig. 3, although they form no part of my presentinvention.

The furnace is heated by means of gas from any suitable kind ofgas-generator and led through a main pipe 'mto a valve n, which allowsof it being distributed to one or to the other of the two channels 0 oro. The gas being directed in the channel 0 enters a chamber 19, filledwith. hot bricks, and becomes heated byits contact therewith. The heatedgas then enters the circular channel q and penetrate'sinto the threehollow pillars d, in

which the burners are placed. The air necessary for the combustion isdistributed by a device similar to that employed for the gas, Fig. 3, toone of the two channels 0" or r, from which it enters the chamber 5,also containing bricks, where it is heated before entering the circularchannels 25, also in communication with the hollow pillars d. The airand gas are mixed in the burners and burn in form of long flames whichcross the furnace, the products of combustion of which enter the hollowpillars d on the opposite side of the furnace. From these pillars thesaid burned gases enter the annular channels q t, flow roo through thechambers 13' and s, and finally escape through the channels 0' 'r to thechimney, as indicated at it, Figs. 3 and 3. When the bricks in thechambers 19 are sufficiently hot, the direction of the gas and airsupply is inverted by changing the position of the valve 72. for thepurpose of utilizing the heat stored in the bricks of one of thechambers 19 s or p s, which has just been crossed by the products ofcombustion.

. The bottom of the furnace is constituted by a revolving sole (2,resting on a strong circular frame f, which is supported by wheels g,guided by a circular rail 72.. In lieu of this arrangement I may attachthe rails 77., Fig. 4, to the under side of the said framework and guidethese rails h by means of stationary left between the edge of the soleand the in ner wall of the furnace, and the action of this space must beprovided for. The gases inside the furnace have always a certainpressure which would certainly oppose the reentrance of air; but it willbe readily understood that if the base of the furnace is closed thisreentrance of air will be greatly lessened. The basement of the furnace"might also be connected with a chimney producing a draft, or smallgas-jets might be delivered into the said space, the gas being takenfrom the circular passage supplying it to the furnace.

The sole can receive sixteen smelting-pots 7c, as shown in Fig. 2. Thesepots are, as shown in the plans Figs. 2 and 5, of oblong shape, as isusual in the manufacture of plateglass; but this shape is notindispensable, and the circular pots, which resist much better theaction of the fire, might be reverted to. In the latter case twenty-fourpots might be used in the furnace, sixteen on the outer circumferenceand eight inside this circumference, these latter being reached by meansof special tools made for the purpose. The working capacity of thefurnace would by this arrangement be largely increased without anyadditional expenditure. Lastly the losses of glass which are inherent tothe manufacture could be directed toward the center of the solo, fromwhich they would run into the basement through a central hole. Therotary motion of the sole is obtained by any suitable means,'such as achain or a circular rack gearing with a pinion or a'ratchet-pawl.

Instead of circular the revolving sole might be annular and as shown inthe half cross section, Fig. 4:, and partial sectional plane, Fig. 5,leaving two gaps, an outer one and an inner one, between itsinner andouter edges and the corresponding walls of the furnace. This annulararrangement of the sole permits of the temperature being more easilyregulated on the periphery, so as to obtain a sufficiently large rangeoftemperature, enabling glass sufficiently heated to be taken from thefurnace for casting purposes.

The operation of my improved glass-fur- ,melting will be made in threeor four hours,

for the furnace will be comparatively hotter than in the usualprocesses. The next setting in of the crucibles, and materials Wlll takeplace at a because the sole turns exactly one-sixteenth ofacircumference in each hour. The second melting, skimming, and refiningwill be done while the sole moves from a to 0. (which corresponds tofour hours) in the hottest part of the furnace. The smelting-pot will beagain in a after sixteen hours after having had foul-hours rest in theleast hot'part of the furnace. (Not more than'four hours are required tomake glass.) It is easy to see that this temperature may be altered byregulating the supply of air and gas, and the action of the gas-outletsin the left-hand part might, if necessary, be lessened. The glass maynow be cast; but if it is thought still too hot for casting the pots maybe placed in a small furnace kept at the proper temperature. Byproviding room in this small furnace for four pots each pot willremainin it for four hours. a most suitablecondition for casting, andthe temperature within the mass will be more uniform than with thepresent system of cooling, which renders the surface of the pots toohard. This auxiliary furnacewill not require much gas for its firing, asthe pots bring heat to it.

The advantages of my improved furnace with continuous working are thefollowing:

First. A'notable'saving of heat units resulting directly from theabsence of any cooling stage, its long duration, and theincreasedcapacity,which would amount to twenty-four plates of glass, with sixteenpots-that is, fifty per cent. more than with the intermittent processnow in use.

Second. A great simplicity in the manipulation of the pots when casting,since they will be taken at the same working hole and cast at the samepoint. Mechanical devices can therefore be'easily employed for theseoperations and the hand-labordecreased.

Third. By casting, for instance, a glass plate every hour the plant willnot get hot and the table will not get out of shape, thinner plates willbe cast, which means a saving of raw materials and an increasedproduction.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of thisinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is In a glass-making furnace, the combina-- tion with asole adapted to be revolved and carry pots containing the material to besmelted, refined and cooled, of means for forming a high-temperaturezone in one portion of the furnace for smelting and refining thematerial contained in the pots, means for The'glass will then be in ICCforming a low-temperature zone in the other In testimony whereof I havehereuntoset portion of the furnace for cooling the smelted my hand inpresence of two subscribing witand refined material, and means to permitof nesses.

access to the furnace for removing the pots EMILE GOBBE. 5 after thematerial has been smelted, cooled Witnesses: v

and refined, and for the replacing of the pots NESTOR ROFFLER,

containing the material to be operated upon. I. DETHIC.

